Flight Express C-210 down....Merged

[SlamClicker]

Pilot's Body Recovered From Plane Crash In Everglades

Plane Registered To Orlando Company



POSTED: 1:31 pm EST January 1, 2005
UPDATED: 1:44 pm EST January 1, 2005


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Rescue teams have recovered the body of an Ocala pilot who was killed when his small plane crashed in the Everglades on New Year's Eve.

The single-engine Cessna 210 went down around 8 p.m. about 20 miles west of Fort Lauderdale.

Officials with the Broward Sheriff's Office said the body of Jorge Garcia, 31, was found early Saturday morning.

The plane took off Friday from Orlando Executive Airport on its way to Opalocka.

The plane was registered to Flight Express Inc. of Orlando.

The company didn't return a phone message. Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board did not return a phone message.

 

[starcheckdriver]

Sad...I think I provided some training to this guy when I was a CFI down there. God Bless him and his family.

 

[rodawg]

I was the first to hear what happened that night. I heard Miami Center calling him with no reply back. This was at about 08:00PM. I landed and the tower asked for me to call them on a land line. When I called the controller spoke to me and explained what the situation was, and asked if I had talked to him in the air. He told me that the airplane was about 17 miles west northwest of FLL when he noticed that the airplane appeared to be lost. He said that the aircraft seemed to be under posative control at which point the aircraft dissapeared of the radar screen. I was asked to try to call him on company freq. which I received no answer. I shortly thereafter heard the Broward County Sherrifs Dept. helicopters leaving to the seen. The airplane was submerged in the glades. When the dive team went down they discovered that there was no pilot in the aircraft. From what I understand and if it is true the body was found underneath the plane. How the hell that happened is beyond me. I personally knew Jorge and it still has not sunk in. A sad thing to happen to a great guy. It will be interesting to hear what the NTSB comes up with. If anyone has flown south to Miami then you are familiar with the clearance to descend to 2,000 over the everglades way the hell out from civilization. At night that low over that area is a bad place to be if something goes wrong. Not a whole lot of options and not a whole lot of time. That might explain why there was no distress call. Too busy dealing with the problem knowing that your time is very limited. God bless his family for the loss that they have suffered.

 

[C210drvr]

I am a former Flight Express pilot. My thoughts and prayers to Jorge and his family.

C210

 

[starchkr]

Touchy Art... I was only stating what i have been told by others who work for your company...no speculation. I was friends with Will and saw him daily in Springdale when i flew the Baron out of Dallas, he and Jeff (another one of your pilots at the time) were pretty happy, however were very upfront with the lack of adequate mx on your companies part.

You may bring up anything you want to about our fatalities...they were unfortunately all pilot error except for one. Nothing to do with our mx department or how well we keep our a/c...we are top notch in the industry, and fortunately everyone knows that.

But back to the topic at hand...unfortunately he was found deceased on the scene. I do feel bad for him and his family as stated before and i am praying for them. He is flying high in a better place now.

 

[rumpletumbler]

the nick nack paddy whack stuff after the feds put some real info up! Bottoms up!

Sometimes I nick nack the paddy whack in the shower. Is that against the regulations? Should I file a NASA report?

 

[millhouse21]

It's more than 3. They lie to you when they tell you that in training. They told me 2 in 1989 when I got hired. I know of 4 since then. 1 in 1990 Bob Berry, 1 in Tampa in 97 or 98, 1 Arkansas,1 Mississippi, 1 yesterday. We had another crash in '90 that wasn't fatal, but the pilot was in intensive care for over a month. I don't think he ever walked again. I know his face was unrcognizable. That one was @ SRQ.

I don't know if you're talking about the recent crash in mississippi but if you are, that pilot walked away.

 

[saviboy]

Very sad news. I see those guys every day.
May Jorge rest in peace.

 

[Groundpounder]

I work at FXE, and see FLX guys all the time. They don't have the easiest job out there, but they all seem like a good group of guys. My prayers go out to the FLX family.

 

[TDK90]

I worked with Jorge in Tucson when he was a CFI. A great pilot and good man (ex-marine). Very sad...

 

[PropsForward]

Here is another article:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10545904.htm?1c

 

[PropsForward]

dupe.

 

[C210drvr]

It's more than 3. They lie to you when they tell you that in training. They told me 2 in 1989 when I got hired. I know of 4 since then. 1 in 1990 Bob Berry, 1 in Tampa in 97 or 98, 1 Arkansas,1 Mississippi, 1 yesterday. We had another crash in '90 that wasn't fatal, but the pilot was in intensive care for over a month. I don't think he ever walked again. I know his face was unrcognizable. That one was @ SRQ.

I agree that jumping to conclusions about this accident was in poor taste. But the safety record sucks at FLX. You can probably do a search in the NTSB database. The 3 letter for Flight Express used to be EXR. I don't know if that makes any difference in the search.

Once again, my thoughts and prayers are with all the freight dogs at Flight Express, and the pilot's family tonight.

The one in Mississippi did not die. I can assure you of that as he called me right after the crash. Yes, by all odds he should have died, but he didn't and I am so thankful!

C210

 

[Princedietrich]

Yes we've lost 4, and yes we've bent a few airframes in our time.

Maintenance is not to blame for any of them, mainly it's been guys who were too tired and pushing it too hard or guys who were going too fast and not paying attention. The one fatality could be attributed to maintenance but I think it was more likely a mechanical fluke that could happen to anyone even in a perfectly maintained plane.

 

[Kingairrick]

Yes we've lost 4, and yes we've bent a few airframes in our time.

Maintenance is not to blame for any of them, mainly it's been guys who were too tired and pushing it too hard or guys who were going too fast and not paying attention. The one fatality could be attributed to maintenance but I think it was more likely a mechanical fluke that could happen to anyone even in a perfectly maintained plane.

Bob Berry in 1990 was a vacuum pump failure. The crash at SRQ was catastrophic engine failure, as was two other crashes that year. I had a prop governor failure that was nearly fatal. I had a mech. fuel pump failure in IMC, which compounded into a alternator failure. Because of the weather, very nearly catastrophic event.

I agree with some of your post, and I have no recent experience with Flight Express. However, it is my opinion that Kerchoffer had an attitude about safety that contributed to a corporate culture of risk that pervails today. It's the freight dog's "it was tough, but I got there." attitude. I had it when I was there, and I was dangerous. I did 2100 hours of 210 freight doggin' and I'm really glad I did. I learned more in those hours than in any other period of my career. But let's not sugar coat the safety record of an operator that is on the edge.

MORE IMPORTANTLY: Did this pilot have family that we can take care of in some way?